3 Ways to Increase Your Web Leads in 2012

We’ve been asking marketing & sales managers the following question: "What's your top marketing goal in 2012?"

The most popular response? “Drastically increase the number of leads we receive from our website.” Sound familiar? As you start to see more and more potential sales opportunities from your website it’s common to wonder, “How can I get more?”

3 ways to increase your web leads in 2012

1. EXPLORE

Try a new marketing method and put the measurement tools in place.

Raise Awareness With Remarketing
Set up a display ad campaign in Google using their remarketing system. This causes your ad to display much more than your competitors’ ads when the visitor has been to your site in the past. This is a great tool to raise awareness about your brand.

Keyword “Tasting”
Set up a landing page and try 5 keywords. Change the 5 keywords each week. Only run your campaign during business hours. Utilize Google’s keyword tool to help you identify some great keywords to test. Watch your analytics closely to determine which keywords work the best.

2. Measure

One of the strengths of search marketing is its extreme measurability. Beef up your tracking in 2012 so you know exactly what’s working.

Measure URLs & Phone Numbers
You can easily measure your campaigns using Google Analytics and Google’s URL builder for creating tracking URLs. For phone calls, we suggest IfByPhone. The URL builder is free, and IfByPhone is fast to set up and very inexpensive.

Multivariate Landing Page Testing
Design multiple landing pages (we suggest using UnBounce to help). Utilize different imagery, messaging and offers on each. Split the traffic evenly between the two and identify which elements work the best. Then, utilize those elements throughout your entire campaign!

3. Adjust

The key to a high-performing search marketing campaign is to be constantly tweaking activities based on the large amount of data received.

Use SEO & SEM Together
Once you identify which keywords work best in the SEM environment, take those keywords and optimize your website for them. Publish new articles, update content pages and write press releases integrating your newly discovered keywords.

Make Your Design Work
Don’t be afraid to adjust some of the design elements of your website based on what you’ve learned from your search activities. Simplify pages, highlight conversions, change images and continue to evolve your design.

What are you planning to do in 2012 that will increase your web leads in 2012?